More than 330 people, half of them children, killed inattack by Chechen rebels on a school in the southern town
of Beslan. Putin orders crackdown. Within two years rebel leaders Aslan Maskshadov and
Samil Basayev are killed. Large scale rebel resistance
ceases. Parliament passes new
laws changing rules of parliamentary elections and scapping gubanatorial elections, giving Putin sweeping new powers.

2007 In October, Putin informs the public that he will remain in power
after the end of his second presidential term in May 2008 by serving as prime minister and
working together with his handpicked successor as president, Dmitry Medvedev.

2011 In September, Medvedev announces that he will step aside and allow
Putin to run for a new, six-year term as president.